nothin Cyclists To City: Connect The Bike Lanes | New Haven Independent

Cyclists To City: Connect The Bike Lanes

Melissa Bailey Photo

Former New Havener David Streever scored a ride in Brennan’s pedal-powered kiddie cart.

Cyclists converged on a downtown plaza to announce a new vision for New Haven, including connecting bike lanes across the center city and converting one-way streets to two directions of travel.

Elm City Cycling (ECC), a bicycling advocacy group, unveiled the vision at Friday’s monthly Bike to Work Day in Pitkin Plaza on Orange Street. The event drew some 140 two-wheeled commuters to the plaza for muffins, hard-boiled eggs, fresh coffee and conversation about how to make the city friendly to all cyclists, from 8 to 80” years old.

Liam Brennan (pictured), a federal prosecutor, Westville resident and member of the Elm City Cycling board, detailed the group’s top two priorities: connecting bike-friendly routes across town and slowing down traffic.

In a recent survey, less than half of respondents said they feel safe biking through town, Brennan reported. He said one of his colleagues, a fellow prosecutor who is not afraid to look in the face of violent criminals,” confessed to him she is afraid she would die” in traffic on a bicycle.

Brennan said the bike lanes commuters use in outer parts of town all disappear in the center city. There is no bike-friendly connection from East to West or North to South, he noted. He called on the city to fix the gaps” in the bike-friendly infrastructure (depicted on this bike map).

Brennan called for more buffered” bike lanes, where cyclists are separated from the road cars drive on; and more regular bike lanes, which are painted next to car lanes without physical separation. The former reduce bike accidents by 80 percent; the latter by 50 percent, he said.

He also called on the city to slow down the streets by lowering speed limits, enforcing current speed limits, narrowing lanes, planting trees, and converting one-way streets into two directions of travel.

Brennan led the way down Orange Street to show an example of the kind of change ECC would like to see.

On the block between MLK Boulevard and George Street, the city converted Church Street into a two-way road. That’s a good move in general, Brennan argued: The conversion gives cyclists a more direct route; it slows traffic by narrowing lanes; and it gives businesses added visibility, boosting the local economy.

The one-to-two-lane conversion is cheap, Brennan noted: It just takes a lot of paint.”

City transportation chief Jim Travers (pictured) agreed that two-way streets lead to more vibrant street life.” He said the city just concluded a traffic count at over 50 intersections and is conducting a study on possible conversions from one-way to two-way streets.

The city plans to install bike boxes” at nine intersections around Gateway Community College this summer, Travers said. A bike box gives cyclists their own area in which to wait at red lights, in front of car traffic, so they are the first in line to make a turn or go straight.

Travers also touted plans for a new cycle track” heading over the Tomlinson Bridge. He said the city is taking into consideration ECC’s recommendation to connect more bike lanes through the center city: We’re working on it.” That may be done through sharrows,” symbols painted on the street to indicate to drivers to share the road with bikes.

Travers was one of a bevy of city officials who showed up to support cycling.

Mayor John DeStefano (pictured with former aldermanic President Carl Goldfield) biked downtown from Westville for the event. He praised ECC for promoting bike-friendly routes around town. Proximity to work, and having a safe way to get there, is key to the vibrancy” of the city, he said.

Police Chief Dean Esserman walked over to Pitkin Plaza from police headquarters for the event. He got a cup of Ethiopian Sidamo coffee from Ryan Taylor, who plans to open a café called the Coffee Pedaler across from Chestnut Fine Foods on Upper State Street.

Esserman said the police department just bought 20 bicycles; in June, rookie cops who recently hit the streets on walking beats will start patrolling by bicycle one day per week, he said.

Bike commuters showed up with a variety of child-toting equipment. David Backeberg, who works in IT at Yale, carried his young ones, Vera and Laura, behind him.

Melinda Tuhus Photo

A large contingent of families from Cold Spring School, an independent day school in Fair Haven, hit the plaza before pedaling off to school.

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